Kimmel and Fallon Will Go Dark for Colbert's Last Late Show

Kimmel and Fallon Will Go Dark for Colbert's Last Late Show

Briefly

"The Strike Force Five is letting Stephen Colbert shine solo on May 21. Both The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live!are going dark that night, Colbert's final one, in solidarity with the departing host. And because competing with that seismic event would be futile anyway. But mostly solidarity. We still don't know exactly what Colbert has planned for his final show. His dream guest, Pope Leo XIV, may still be out of reach."

"More people are watching late-night television now than - and I know everybody gets crazy - than when Johnny Carson [was on], he said when the Strike Force Five guested on The Late Show Monday night. Obviously, Johnny Carson had a lot of people watching one show, but we have a lot of shows. With 30,000 people watching each one, it adds up. People watch us on YouTube now, and people have a lot of different options, and yet they still keep coming to us."

"And by Kimmel's estimation, his show getting pulled briefly last year cost Disney billions of dollars - between lost ad revenue and people canceling the Disney+ subscriptions. "I cost our company a lot of money this year, billions," he said at Upfronts this week. "It is very possible that no employee in the history of any company has cost their employer more than hiring me 24 years ago. Just from a purely mathematical standpoint, it was the worst personnel decision that Disney Corporation has ever made.""